Pianista.



Fa'tented Dec."2, |902.

A. CAPRA.

PIANISTA.

(Application led Apr. 10, 1901.)

5 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

No. 7|4,666. Patented Dec.

A. CAPRA.

PIANISTA.

4 (Application Bled Apr. 10, 1901.)

5 Sheds-Sheet 2.

(lo Model.)

ms wams PET-:ns co. Moro-uwe.. wAsHlNaTuN. n. c.

Patented Dec. 2, |902. A. CAPRA.

PIANISTA. v (Appumian med Apr. 1o, 1901.)

5 Sheets-Shut 3.

(lo Modal.)

No. 7I4,666. Patented Dec. 2, |902.

A CAPHA l PIANISTA.

Alp! ton ldAp 10 1901 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

No. 7|4,666. Patented Dec. 2. |902.

A. CAP'BA.

PIANISTA.

[Application led Apr. 10, 1901.)

(lo Model.) 5 Sheds-Sheet 5,

@uvam/tof.

f 'rut Nonms Pneus no. mmoumo.. wAsnwoToN. E. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALESSANDRO OAPRA, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PIANISTA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 714,666, dated December 2, 1902.

Application filed April 10, 1901. Serial No. 55,126. v(No model.) I

To all 207mm/ t may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALESSANDRO CAPRA, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphiatate of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful lmprovement in Pianistas, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of an improvement in a mechanical piano of that class in which a perforated strip of paper is employed to operate the hammers.

The invention further consists of the details of construction, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Figure l represents a vertical longitudinal section of a portion of a mechanical piano embodying my invention and taken on the line c co, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 represents a top plan of the parts shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents a vertical transverse section on line y y, Fig. l. Fig. 4. represents a fragmentary view showing the arrangement of certain keys and levers. Fig. 5 represents a perspective View of portions of said keys and levers. Fig. G represents a view, partially in side elevation and in section, illustrating, on an enlarged scale, the hammer and adjacent parts. Fig. 7 represents a top plan View similar to that 4shown in Fig. 2, illustrating the modified construction embodying my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the figures.

Referring to the drawings, A designates a casing forming a portion of the framework of the piano and in which is contained the devices that operate the hammer and which are set in motion by the traveling paper or cardboard strip. Said perforated strip is designated by B (best shown in Fig. l) and rests on the tables C, being fed by the rollers D and E, between which said strip B passes. The lower roller Eis mounted in stationary bearings, while the upper roller D is carried by a frame F, that is hinged at the rear end of the casing, as at G, so that it can be elevated to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3

' to insert or remove the strip B. The said in alinement with the grooves ofthe cylinder H. The rollers D and E are provided with gears K, by means of which they are geared together, and the lower roller is provided with a sprocket wheel L, that is driven by a sprocket-chain M, trained around a sprocketwheel N on the driving-shaft P, which is provided with a suitable crank, by means of which it may be turned.

I have shown hammers (best shown in Fig. 6) that are vibrated or operated by a rotating vibrator or ribbed shaft Q, that is also driven by the driving-shaft P through the intermediacy of the belt R, shaft S, and belt T. This ribbed shaft Q contacts with the tingerU of the hammer V, and when the slide W of the hammer is in the position shown in Fig. (i the hammer is operated by means of said ribbed shaft Q and is caused to rapidly vibrate, being moved in the opposite direction by the spring X to strike the strings. The said slide W has a grooved rear face that iits on the front face of the hammer-bar and is slotted, as at Y, a pin Z passing through said slot and into the hammer-bar for the purpose of guiding the slide. Said slide is also provided with a socket A' in its front side and is normally held at the lower end of its movement by a spring B', connected therewith and With the lower end portion of the hammerbar. The finger U is pivoted at its lower end and may be provided with a spring C' to move it away from the ribbed shaft Q, or in the absence of said spring it will be thrown away in coming in contact with the first one of the ribs. The lower end portion of the slide "W is beveled and acts as a Wedge to turn the finger U on its pivot and hold the roller thereon in the path of the ribs of shaft Q. At the upper end of the slide is also the adjustingscrew Y', that contacts with the pins Z and by means of which the extent of movement of said slide may be regulated.

The slides W are -moved up and down by means of levers D', that correspond in number with the number of hammers, said levers being pivoted upon the notched bar E'. Between the pivoted levers and the hammers is the notched bar F', that acts as a guide for these levers, the outer ends of which engage the notches of A' of the slides XV. The other IOO ends of the levers D for the sake of compactness overlap, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5, and there is a detent G', that corresponds with each of these levers D', said detents being pivoted, as at H', and having feet J' at their free ends, that engage the ends of the levers, while the upper sides of the free ends of the detents are provided with fingers K', situated opposite the grooves of the cylinder H, one of these detents G being situated opposite each groove. When the strip B is in the position shown in Fig. l, these detents are held depressed when an unperforated portion of the strip is situated over the finger K', and when in this position the foot J' of the detent holds the adjacent end of the lever B depressed, which lifts the ,other end of the lever that engages the socket A' of the slide, and thus lifts the slide against the action of the spring B', so as to allow the finger U of the hammer to be moved out of the path of the ribs of the shaft Q, it being understood that during the operation of the machine the ribbed shaft Q, rotates rapidly, and it will be apparent that as soon as the perforated portion of the strip comes between the finger K' of the detent and the grooved cylinder H the perforation will allow the detent G to rise and enter its groove of said cylinder H and the corresponding end of the lever D' to rise under the influence of the spring B', which draws the slide downwardly, so that its lower wedge-shaped portion engages the upper end of the finger U and moves it to the position shown in Fig. 6, whereby the roller carried by this finger is in the path of the ribs of the shaft Q. This will cause the same to be vibrated from the time that one of these ribs strikes the roller of the finger and allow the hammer to be thrown against the strings by the spring X, the duration of the series of vibrations of the ham mer being regulated, of course, by the length of the perforations in the strip.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the cylinder H is arranged at right angles to the position it occupies in the construction shown in Fig. 2, the rollers D and E (the latter not being seen in this figure) being correspondinglyarranged. The ribbed shaft Qis driven by the driving-shaft, as shown in Fig. 1; but the feed-rollers D and E are geared to the end of the ribbed shaft Q, opposite the driving-shaft P, by means of a sprocket-chain T', engaging a sprocket-wheel U on said ribbed shaft and the sprocket-wheel V on a shaft W', that forms an extension of the lower feedroller E, this lower feed-roller being provided with a gear meshing with the gear X' on the upper feed-roller D. The detents G'are also arranged at right angles to the position they assume in Fig. 2, by means of which I am enabled to simplify the arrangement of the ends of the levers D', it being noted that it is unnecessary to have them overlap, as shown in Fig. 2, when the device is constructed in the manner shown in said modification in Fig. 7. The construction and operation of this modification (shown in Fig. 7) is otherwise the same as that heretofore described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a piano of the kind specified, a rotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, movable means carried by the hammer and engaging said movable members, means actuating said movable means in one direction to move said movable members into the path of the vibrator, means actuated by the music-sheet to. move said movable means in the other direction, and means for moving said movable members out of the path of the vibrator when said movable means have been moved in the last-mentioned direction.

2. In a piano of the kind specified, arotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, and a plurality of detents corresponding in number with said hammers and adapted to move into and out of the perforations in said sheet, and means carried by said hammers and actuated by said detents to move said movable member of the hammer out of the path of said vibrator, and means for causing said first-mentioned means to move the movable member into the path of the vibrator.

3. In a piano of the kind specified, a rotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, a grooved member across which said perforated music-sheet travels, the grooves in said member being situated opposite the perforations in said sheet, a plurality of detents corresponding in number With said hammers and situated opposite the grooves in said member and adapted to move into and out of the perforation in said sheet and the grooves of said member, means controlled by said detents to permit said member of the hammer to move out of the path of said vibrator and means for moving the said member into the path of the vibrator upon the removal of the means controlled by said detents.

4:. In a piano of the kind specified, a rotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, a plurality of detents corresponding in number with said hammers and adapted to move into and out of the perforations in said sheet, a plurality of levers, one end of each lever being engaged by a detent, movable means carried by the hammers and engaging said movable members, said movable means being engaged by the other ends of said levers and actuated in one direction thereby, means for moving said movable members ont of the path of the vibrator when said movable means are actuated by the levers, and means for moving said movable means in IIO the other direction, whereby the movable members are forced into the path of the vibrator.

5. In a piano of the kind specified, a rotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, a grooved member across which the perforated strip travels, the grooves in said member being situated opposite the perforations of said sheet, a plurality of detents corresponding in number with the hammers and with the lines of perforations in said sheet, and with the grooves of said hammer, a plurality of levers corresponding with said detents, one end of each lever engaging a detent, movable means carried by the hammers and engaging said movable members, said movable means being engaged by the other ends of said levers and actuated in one direction thereby, means for movingsaid movable members out of the path of the vibrator when said movable means are actuated by the levers, and means for moving said movable means in the other direction, whereby the movable members are forced into the path of the vibrator.

6. In a piano of the kind specilied, a rotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, a grooved roller across which said perforated music-sheet travels, the grooves in said roller being situated opposite the perfoi-ations in said music-sheet, and a plurality of detents corresponding in number with said hammers and situated opposite the grooves in said roller, and movable into the perforations in said sheet and said grooves, means for moving said movable members into the path oi' the vibrator when the detents enter the perforations in the sheet, and means for moving said movable mem bers out of the path of the vibrator when the detents are moved by the music-sheet.

7. In a piano of the kind specified, a rotating vibrator, a plurality of hammers having movable members, a traveling perforated music-sheet, a plurality of detents corresponding in number with said hammers, said detents being pivoted at one end and having iingers at their free ends movable into the perforations in said sheet, the free ends of the detents being also provided with feet, and a plurality of levers corresponding with said detents and with said hammers, one end of each lever being engaged by the foot of the corresponding detent, movable means carried by the hammers andengaging said movable members, said movable means being engaged by the other ends of said levers and actuated in one direction thereby, means for moving said movable members out of the path of the vibrator when said movable means are actuated bythe levers, and means for moving said movable means in the other direction, Whereby the movable members are forced into the path of the vibrator.

8. In a piano of the kind specified, a plurality of hammers, provided with slides, springs for depressing the same, a plurality of levers for moving said slides in opposition to said springs, and pivoted iingers on said hammers situated in the path of said slide, and means for vibrating said hammers, adapted to engage said fingers of the same when the latter are moved into the path thereof by said slides.

9. In a piano of the kind specified, a plurality of hammers, provided with slides, springs for depressing same, adjusting-screws to limit the downward movement of said slides, a plurality of levers for moving said slides in opposition to said springs,pivoted fingers on said hammers situated in the path of said slide, and means for vibrating said hammers adapted to engage said fingers of the same when the latter are moved into the path thereof by said slides.

ALESSANDRO CAPRA.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. WIEDERSHEIM, HARRY COBB KENNEDY. 

